Evening Update 12 Feb

French Riviera local news

Election - Stéphane Valeri has won a landslide victory in elections for Monaco’s National Council which were held yesterday. Just over 70% of the population took to the polls, with an unprecedented 21 of the 24 seats in the parliamentary assembly going to Valeri’s ‘Primo’ party.

Court - The case against the mastermind of a 46 million franc bank robbery, forty years ago, has got under way at the court against 73 year-old Jacques Cassandri. In 1976, criminals tunnelled into the vaults of the Societé General in Nice, escaping with a vast sum of cash which was never recovered. The case came to light recently after Monseuir Cassandri wrote a novel detailing the robbery. His lawyer described the book as a work of fiction, so cannot be used as a source of evidence.

Dump - A resident on Avenue des Mimosas in Cagnes-sur-mer has placed ads on Le Bon Coin offering to rent his balcony, which features unobstructed view of an illegal dump across the road. The resident is hoping the ad will draw attention to the illegal dumping facility and the danger it presents to residents.

Will - The daughter of French rock legend Johnny Halliday, has been completely written out of his will. Laura Smet wasn’t even left the sleeve of his album ‘Laura’ which was dedicated to her. Instead, Hallidays entire estate has been left to his fourth wife, and the two Vietnamese children they adopted. Laura plans to contest the will.

BUSINESS

Unilever has threatened to withdraw ads from Google and Facebook, if they do not do more to police extremist and illegal content, saying consumer trust in social media is now at a new low. However experts in digital media say, more advertisers would have to join Unilever to create any change as Unilever alone won’t dent the profits of digital giants. Last year Facebook and Google accounted for 73% of all digital advertising in the US.

New York prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company, alleging that the company itself failed to protect staff from Harvey Weinstein. The New York Attorney General is seeking an unspecified sum to cover damages, and penalties, for victims of alleged abuse by Harvey Weinstein. The company board has said Many of the allegations relating to the board are inaccurate and the board looks forward to bringing the facts to light.

SPORT

Winter Olympics - Ireen Wust has become the most successful Dutch Olympian of all time, as she won the women's 1500m speed skating title. It was her 10th games medal, meaning she has also become the most successful Olympic speed skater.

So far, on the overall medals table, Germany are in the lead with four golds, followed by the Netherlands in second. France are in sixth place with two golds and one bronze.

Conditions for the women's ‘slopestyle’ final have been described as way too dangerous by atheletes, all of the riders falling on at least one run. Defending champion Jamie Anderson of the United States eventually won the gold.

The whistleblower, who made allegations of Russian state-sponsored doping, says his "life is in jeopardy" and the Russian government want him to "stop talking". The former Russian anti-doping official was speaking under disguise, during a television interview.

Football - Anti-discriminatory body ‘Fare’ has said OGC Nice’s Mario Balotelli should be given added protection by referees, rather than being booked for complaining about alleged racist chants. The player was given a yellow card after he complained about racist chants from Dijon fans. The organisation say they expect a strong response from the French football authorities, in condemning the chanting, the failure of the referee to halt the behaviour, and compounding Balotelli's experience as a victim by booking him, for asking the match official to do his job.

Six Nations - Allegations of sexual assault, by a number of French players, have been dismissed in Scotland. A number of players were questioned before the team flight left Edinburgh last night, but the police concluded that no crime had been committed.